Hoedown Throwdown
by imsavannah
Summary: Toby finds out Spencer told the girls the secret about his mother at the hoedown dance.


"Remember, don't talk to Toby about his mom, A, Radley, or anything suspicious. Actually try to avoid him at all costs if you can," Spencer rambled out nervously to Emily. She didn't want Toby to know that she told her friends about the situation with his mother earlier that afternoon.

"Spence, I wouldn't say anything. Trust me. And wouldn't it be strange if I just ignored him?" Emily replied rolling her eyes at her uptight friend.

Spencer lolled her head back, looked at the ceiling and let out a groan. "Ugh, you're right."

"Relax. Breathe. Here he comes.," Emily nodded towards a smiling Toby walking towards them with two drinks in his hands.

"A drink for my girl and a drink for you, Emily," he smiled. handing the girls their drinks.

"Thank you," replied Emily, smiling at her friend.

"There's some pizza and snacks over there, Spence, I know you probably didn't eat to check it out with us, Em?" Toby asked reaching a hand out to Spencer.

"I should actually go catch up with Paige…we kind of need to talk. Thanks though, Toby. I'll see you guys later," Emily replied as she walked away to look for Paige.

Good, thought Spencer, minimal confrontation is good.

"Come on," Toby said guiding Spencer to the snack table.

A few minutes later, Spencer barely ate anything when her phone beeped signaling she had a new text.

"Who is it?" asked her boyfriend, while chewing pizza crust.

"It's Aria…she wants me to meet her in the bathroom."

Toby gave her a puzzling look.

"Wardrobe malfunction," replied Spencer, "I'll be back."

Aria really did tell Spencer to meet her in the bathroom ASAP, but Spencer made up the wardrobe malfunction part. Aria probably wanted to talk about an A message she had just received or a red coat sighting.

About a half an hour later, Toby was still sitting by himself. Must have been some wardrobe malfunction, he thought, glancing at his watch. Spencer tended to do this sometimes. Forget that Toby actually didn't go to this school and he didn't really know anyone…or wanted to for that matter.

His phone suddenly beeped pulling him from his thoughts. He had a text from an unknown number. Maybe it's another tip about my mom, he thought. After reading the message three times, he finally began to comprehend what it was saying.

Game's over. No more clues about what happened to your mom. And i think you know just who to thank for that. She couldn't keep your secret. **-A**

First, he was focused on A's choice of words. How could A even say _game's_ over… sick freak. This was no where near a game to Toby. Then, the second part of the text hit him like a pile of bricks. Spencer broke his promise… she told the girls his secret when she knew what was at stake. Enraged, he glanced up searching the room for the tall brunette.

He spotted her in the corner with Aria in what looked to be an intense conversation. His legs must have took over his body because before he knew it, he was in front of her. "Spencer," he spoke, sounding angry and sad at the same time.

Aria seemed to catch Toby's "we need to talk now" face and said "We'll talk later," before quickly walking away.

"You broke your promise?" Toby exclaimed, rather loudly, causing some of the kids around them to look over at them.

Spencer looked confused so Toby pushed his phone towards her.

Spencer sighed. Of course A would tell Toby. Not her friends. "Toby, I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell them but-"

"But you did. You told them when you knew what was at stake. Now I'll never find out what really happened to her." Toby ran his hands through his hair. "Do you even care?" He practically shouted.

"How can you even say that? Of course I care. I've been with you on this since the day you told me about it. You put me in a hard position whether you meant to or not. I had to choose between you and them."

"And you chose them," Toby pointed out angrily, turning to walk away,

No, Spencer thought, I'm not the only one at fault here. "Hey wait," she walked up to him. "You were asking a lot of me, okay? I didn't want to tell them but they knew something was up, Toby. Hanna even asked me if i was pregnant. They deserve to know things regarding A…we've been through it all together and it's not fair to lie to them."

"What about the promise you kept me?" Toby asked. "It's not as important as the bond you have with the girls, huh? The worst part is I don't even think you care about the consequences I have to suffer from now or how much it hurts that you do something like this and I find out from A."

"How about all the pain you caused me a couple months ago? The promise you kept to protect me. But instead you let me suffer, enter a mental hospital, and let me believe that you were dead. Do you know how much that hurt?" Spencer asked, looking up at Toby with tears in her eyes.

"You can't just bring up something that happened in the past when we are having a present argument, Spencer…it isn't relevant."

"It is since we never really talked about it…I never knew that someone you loved so much could make you cry so much." Spencer mumbled.

Toby felt a pang in his chest at Spencer's words. "Everything i did was to protect you. You know that."

Spencer only sighed.

"Great," Toby exhaled irritably, "this argument turned to being my fault real fast."

"That's all we've been doing, haven't we?" Spencer half sobbed-half laughed. "Arguing."

"It's never like this," Toby mumbled, picking at the wood on the staircase behind them.

"No, but whenever we're together now we're either bickering or snapping at each other."

Toby crossed his arms, avoiding Spencer's eyes.

"Remember when we used to lay on my couch and watch TV? Or walk around the town just because? When's the last time we even made out, Toby," Spencer choked out. "It's not fun anymore."

"You're the one who's obsessed with A and Alison," Toby accused.

"I know I and I'm sorry, but I just want it to be over…all of it." replied Spencer. She searched for Toby's eyes and found them. They were watery and tears threatened to fall, but they didn't.

Spencer sighed, "You can't honestly say we're the same as we were before everything happened"

"We aren't," Toby spoke again. "You've become a part of me. We've seen what lengths we would go for each other…And it honestly scares me to think of what I would do for you."

Spencer half smiled at Toby's confession. "I'm sorry," she replied, "I swear I didn't want to tell them you're secret, but I just had to. They're like my sisters and if A wasn't involved I would have never-"

"Shhh," Toby soothed Spencer, pulling her in and rubbing her back. "I put you in an awful position. I should never make you choose the way that I did. I just didn't know what to do. And Spence, if you still have unresolved feelings about Radley, you should have talked to me about it." He pulled back to look into her eyes. "I regret how i handled it everyday of my life."

There was no doubt in Spencer's mind that Toby meant what he had said. "I know that you do. I just need to hear it again sometimes. And hey, we can sleuth on our own without A if you want too. We can find out what happened to your mom without that pesky fricken letter." She smiled and moved her forehead to his. "I love you."

"I love you too…so much," Toby replied, planting a kiss on her forehead.

Spencer glanced at her watch. "It's only 10:30…why don't we ditch this dance and go make out somewhere?" She leaned in next to his ear and whispered, "And maybe do some other stuff?"

Toby smiled, putting his arm around his girlfriend's waist. "Let's go live in the present, babe."


End file.
